Chapter two- A Meeting With Friends- and With Destiny


Several weeks had passed since Anna and Alice had moved into their new house, and things were rather hit and miss. On the plus side they were settling in quite nicely, though they had still yet to arrange a meet up with Alice's other friends. On the downside, they were both still living on the dole. They were required to go to the job centre at least once a week to keep their benefits, but the jobs weren't really there and what few ones there were ended up turning them both down. Nonetheless, they remained optimistic they would find work eventually. It was just a matter of how long it would take. In the meantime, Anna had a morning routine all figured out. Every morning she would go out for a run from her house to the job centre and back. For someone who had spent most of her time up until now indoors, she actually enjoyed being active and took her new home as a perfect opportunity to do more exercise. Her route took her through some of the local shops to get the paper, then through the main shopping district before coming in to the job centre itself.

Today would be no different, as she had picked up her paper from the newsagents before heading for the main district. She paused for a moment to have a quick drink of water from her bottle while looking around the area. The shops were the usual fare, with a few big name places as well as a few small businesses. Mainly a florist, an indie video games shop which sold not only the newest games, but many import titles and even retro games- which meant Anna would be a regular customer there- a butchers and a bakery. The most notable shop however, was right in the centre of the district. A costume shop, where everything was supposedly handmade. Anna couldn't see a huge amount from where she was standing, but she knew that there were a wide variety of outfits for sale. Cute ones, elegant ones, sexy ones, silly ones and ones that seemed way too revealing. In addition, there were also patterns and materials for those who wanted to make their own outfits and even some wigs for sale. Anna sighed, wishing she could wear outfits like the ones in the windows.

"Oh well." she thought to herself. "No point in thinking about that place. I should get back to my run." She put her water bottle away and started running again. But as she reached the costume shop, she found herself tripping on a loose bit of pavement. She braced herself for a fall, but instead found herself being caught at the last second.

"Phew! That was a close one." said the person who caught her. "Any longer and you'd have been face first on the pavement. That would have been pretty embarrassing for you."

"Painful, too." said Anna, as her saviour let her go. As Anna composed herself, she had a good look at who had caught her. It was a woman with long dark blonde hair that went down to her hips. She was wearing tight looking light blue jeans and an even tighter looking grey T-shirt which showed off her midriff. Anna couldn't help but raise an eyebrow- it was still pretty cold at the moment, so who on earth would dress like that during this time of year?

"Oh! Um... T-Thanks for catching me." she said, quickly realising she was staring. Desperately trying to find something else to focus on, she looked at the costume shop. "So... You work here?"

"Yeah, I do." said the woman with a smile. "I was cleaning out in the back when I saw you trip. Good thing I did."

"Really? You came all the way from the back?"

Looking into the shop, Anna could indeed see an open door which said "EMPLOYEES ONLY", but what puzzled her was the fact the door was some distance from the front of the shop. For the woman to have made it from there to where Anna was, she needed to be quick. Almost superhuman, in fact. Anna couldn't figure it out at all. Before she could think about it any further, her phone gave a text alert.

"Excuse me. I need to get this." Anna said to the woman. "Thanks again!"

"Don't mention it. Just be more careful next time, okay?"

"I will."

The woman went back into the shop while Anna checked her phone. It was a text from Alice.





"Hey Anna, pretty sure you don't have any plans tonight? Steve just contacted me to say the gang's going to meet up tonight at the Italiano restaurant. You coming? You know how everyone's been looking forward to meeting you.

Either way, catch you later!

Luv,

Alice xxxx"





"Awesome." thought Anna. "Been waiting for this for a while."

She immediately texted back to say she'd be there for sure, and decided to get back to her run. She smiled, looking forward to meeting some new friends. She could tell tonight was going to be a good one.



Night had already fallen by the time Anna and Alice had left the house. As they made their way to their destination, Anna couldn't help but wonder where they were going.

"Well, the Italiano is an Italian restaurant obviously, and it's a little bit out of town." said Alice. "It's really good though. I went there before, and the food is amazing."

"I do love Italian. Should be good." said Anna, looking up at the sky.

"Looks like a full moon tonight."

"Yup." Alice replied. "Always did like looking up at it. It's so beautiful when it's lit up like that."

"Not to mention mystical."

"Oh, please. Steve may believe that kind of stuff, but I've never really bought the notion of the Moon having some kind of power."

"Well, I'm not as big on it as he is, but I can't help but think there's more to the world than what we see..."

Alice sighed. She had always been highly sceptical about ancient myths and legends. Steve and Anna on the other hand had quite the interest in them, and talked about them from time to time.

"Oh, hey. Would you look at that."

Anna stopped and saw Alice was looking at a posh looking pair of gates. Beyond them was a long garden path which led to a mansion in the distance.

"Never realised this was here." said Alice. "Looks a little out of place in this part of town, wouldn't you agree?"

"I dunno." Anna replied. "Creepy looking mansion in a creepy forest. Sounds legit to me. Wonder if anyone lives there?"

"Maybe. Or maybe it's another of Umbrella's secret labs. You know what they're like."

Both Anna and Alice burst out laughing.

"Well, if we start seeing zombies around here, we'll know for sure." said Anna. "In any case, we'll be late if we stop and stare any longer. Let's go."

"H-hey! Wait up!" Alice shouted as Anna set off again.



It didn't take that much longer for the pair to arrive at the Italiano, and as soon as they walked in they were greeted by a waiter.

"Good evening, ladies. Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah." said Alice. "We're here to join a Mr. Steve Lewis' party?"

"Ah, yes. Please follow me."

The waiter led Anna and Alice to a table with four other people chatting amongst themselves. Steve was there, as was Kelly and two other people Anna had never seen before. One was a woman with short light blonde hair wearing a black and white top with short sleeves and black jeans while the other was a medium length brunette wearing a red top, dark green trousers and a cream coloured cardigan that was completely unbuttoned. She was also a little shorter than the others.

"Hey guys! Glad you could make it." said Steve, standing up to give Alice a kiss and Anna a hug.

"Glad to be here." said Anna. "You been waiting long?"

"Nope. About ten minutes, if even that. Anyway, I think it's about time you met the gang, eh?"

"I think so too. So, let's have an introduction, shall we?"

Steve gestured at Kelly.

"Well, you already met Kelly. As you saw last time, she's the eccentric one."

Kelly waved as Steve gestured towards the blonde woman.

"This here's Poppy Smith. Her parents used to childmind me when I was a kid, so we've known each other for quite some time. And this..." he continued as he gestured towards the brunette. "...is Amy Phillips, a friend from college."

"Nice to meet you both." said Anna, shaking both Poppy and Amy's hands.

"Same here." said Amy. "How are you finding London at the moment?"

"Not bad, thanks. I've been quite a bit more outgoing since I left my old home. A lot more comfortable. Just need to find a job, and I'm golden."

"Yeah, we've heard you've both been struggling there." said Poppy. "Don't worry though. I'm sure you'll find something eventually."

"Let's hope so." said Alice. "Don't really want to live on benefits for the rest of my life."

"Anyway, why not take a seat?" said Steve. Anna and Alice took the advice and sat down.

"So, Steve... Don't you have any male friends?" asked Anna as she made herself comfortable.

"Yeah, but they all live out of town now. Kelly, Poppy and Amy are the only friends I have still living here. And now you two, of course."

"Unfortunately, I can't really stay for long." said Poppy. "I was invited out for drinks by one of my other friends tonight, and she kinda asked first. But I wanted to meet Anna, so I figured I'd at least drop by here and say hi. Hope you don't mind that?"

"No worries. Do what you gotta do." said Anna. "Are you at least going to have something to eat?"

"Not this time, sorry. We promised to go at around eight, and I asked my friend to pick me up here so I'll be going straight from here."

"Ah, well." said Steve. "At least you made the time to have a quick chat. Not many people would do that."

"So hey, why not tell us a little about yourself, Anna?" said Amy.

"Ummm... What's to say? School sucked, I think you were told that much. Didn't go to college or university. Had a brief stint flipping burgers before going to work at a recycling plant. It wasn't very interesting, but it was a job. Uh, I play a lot of video games, especially retro games. I watch a lot of movies, especially action, don't like horror very much, though. Oh! I love sweets. Especially chocolate. Yeah... I'm not very interesting. What about you, Amy?"

"Well, I'm a dancer by profession. Skilled in ballet mostly, but I also do belly dancing as well. I kinda got into that after playing the Shantae games. I'm also quite skilled in Capoeira, believe it or not. Are you any good at martial arts?"

"Nope. Never took a single lesson in self defence. You like dance, then?"

"I fell in love with it ever since I saw a production of Swan Lake on TV. Afterwards I mainly trained as a Ballet dancer, but got into other types as well. I think there's a lot of beauty in all kinds of dance, a lot of flow. I love that, and that's what inspires me more than anything. I also watch a lot of anime. Dabbled in a little cosplay, though not much. I'm not very keen on my height, so don't go bringing that up. That's pretty much me in a nutshell."

"Cool. I always wanted to learn belly dancing." said Anna. "There's something about that I find really sexy."

"It's definitely fun. I'd be happy to give you a few pointers sometime."

Alice and Steve chuckled at the thought of Anna belly dancing.

"What?" said Anna. "It's not THAT dumb!"

"I'm sorry, I just can't picture it." said Steve, struggling to stifle his laughs.

"You know you don't have much in the way of grace, right?" said Alice. "You're also the worst dancer I've ever seen. You can't even do a basic song on DDR without falling off the machine!"

"Thaaaanks, Alice..." Anna sighed, deciding to change the subject. "Uh, so what do you do, Poppy?"

"Me? I'm a photographer. I was one of those kids who was always taking photos of everything whenever I had a camera in my hand."

"I can confirm." said Steve. "She especially liked to take pictures while I was taking a nap. She always found that hilarious for some reason. She really does like her mischief. She's like a monkey sometimes..."

"You were always so cute when sleeping, is all." said Poppy. "I could never resist."

"So, what do you take photos of, Poppy?" asked Anna.

"Wildlife mainly. I love animals, and I feel so relaxed just watching them. Though I also do-"

"Hey, Poppy, how's things?" said a voice from behind the group. They all turned around to see a stunning young woman. She looked Hispanic in origin, with lightly tanned skin, very long black hair and stunning blue eyes. She wore white trousers as well as a pink crop top. The other very noticeable thing about her was the fact she was quite impressively endowed.

"Hiya, Keese." said Poppy to the sexy newcomer. "Everyone, this is the friend I mentioned. Let me intro-"

"No way!" said Steve. "Poppy... You never told us your friend was Kisa Justine! Th-that's a pretty big deal."

"Ah, that's right." said Kelly. "Kisa Justine, as in the glamour model?"

"That sounds about right." said Alice. "A bit of a sensation ever since she started doing Page 3 a few years back. Very popular with the blokes, unsurprisingly."

"Apparently so." said Kisa. "Though the real me is no match for what you've heard."

Anna looked quite dumbfounded at the exotic beauty standing next to her.

"So Kisa, these are my other friends. The girls right next to you are Anna and Alice. They just moved here last month, though I've known Alice for some time. The one in the baseball cap is Kelly, she's an inventor. The short girl is Amy, and the bloke is Steve. He and Alice are an item."

"Hi. Nice to meet you all." said Kisa as Amy rolled her eyes at Poppy's remark about being short. "Really sorry I have to take Poppy away from you right now. If I'd known you've been planning this, I'd have rescheduled our own plans. So sorry..."

"That's okay, no need to apologise." said Anna. "S-so, umm... How do you know Poppy?"

"Oh, we've been friends since college. We kind of shared a room together, and things just went from there. I have her to thank for my job, too. A few years ago she took a few saucy snaps of me as a joke and sent them off to a modelling agency. The next thing I knew I was in the limelight, and she started making a name for herself in glamour photography."

"Yeah." said Poppy. "That's the other thing I do. I wouldn't say I've been making a name for myself on it though. I admit though, I do appreciate the female form quite a bit- in a completely straight way, of course. I'm not gay or bi or anything. I just see beauty in that kind of thing. Kind of like how Amy finds it in dance."

"Well, I don't judge." said Amy. "Though I imagine Kisa gets a fair bit of flack for it these days..."

"You'd better believe it..." said Kisa. "Plenty of self righteous arses out there telling me to have some respect for myself. I just tell 'em the same thing though. I find showing off my body empowering, the same way they find modesty empowering. We're all different, you know? Of course, they then tell me that people will forget about me once I'm a lot older and my looks fade..."

"That is true, sad to say." said Kelly. "Good looks don't last forever..."

"The thing is though, I've been aware of that from the beginning. I know I won't be doing this forever. That's why I've actually been learning other skills so when that time finally comes, I can still make a living. Mostly photography, so I can be as good as Poppy is one day. More than anything, I'd love to be able to help others feel more comfortable with how they look. Of course you don't have to be pretty to get anywhere, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to be pretty either. Like I said- we're all different."

"How very profound." said Alice. "And they say people like you are all looks, no brains."

"Oh, I'm quite smart." said Kisa. "I'm no one trick pony, that's for sure. Put me in a pub quiz team, and you'll go far. I know I've won my fair share."

"I think we'll have to find out, one day." said Anna. "With you and Kelly here, we could kick some butt."

"Heh, why not?" said Kelly. "Sounds like it could be fun."

"Anyway, shall we be off?" said Poppy as she put her coat on.

"Yeah, sure." replied Kisa, before turning to the rest of the group.

"Nice meeting you guys. Maybe we'll see each other some other time, yeah?"

"I hope so." said Anna. "You seem alright."

Kisa just chuckled as she and Poppy left the table, waving goodbye to the others. Just then, the waiter appeared, looking very apologetic.

"I'm so sorry for the wait, ladies and gentlemen. As you can see, we've been quite busy tonight. Can I take your orders?"

"Ah, no worries." said Steve. "We've all been chatting amongst ourselves anyway. So, ladies, what do we want?"




Following the long wait to get served, the rest of the evening went quickly. There was plenty of idle banter between the group, including the latest games and movies. A few jokes here and there, and some funny stories from Kelly, who had seen plenty in her short life. By the time they were ready to pay and leave, Anna felt like she finally had somewhere she belonged. Poppy and Amy all seemed great, and she knew she'd get along just fine with them. She also had a feeling she'd take a shine to Kisa as well. It was around ten o'clock by the time everyone said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

"Well, that was a good night." said Alice as she and Anna walked home. "You seemed to be getting on well with the rest of the gang pretty well."

"Yeah, I had a really great time." said Anna. "It's just nice to have more people to talk to, you know?"

"I know you really need that at the moment. I'm just glad to see you happy for once."

"It's nice to actually be happy. Anyways, what do you say we have a cup of tea when we get home? I could really go for one right now."

"Tea... Oh shit! Completely forgot about the milk!"

"The milk?"

"Yeah, we're fresh out of it right now. I meant to get some before we headed out but I forgot... Sorry Anna, but it looks like toast for breakfast tomorrow..."

"I could head out and get some right now. There's a Tesco Direct not too far from here. That should still be open."

"You sure? I may as well go with you, then."

"Nah, no need. It's not too far out, so it's no issue for me. Besides, you look a little tired."

"Yeah, I do feel a little tired, now that you mention it. Guess I'll just go straight to bed or something. I'll leave the lights on for you for when you get back, but just make sure you turn 'em off when you go to bed yourself, okay?"

"No worries." Anna said as she split up from Alice. "I'll be right back."



Anna shone her torch along the forest path as she walked along. It was still quite chilly, which did little to ease the creepy mood of the spot. However, Anna shook off any fears that may of entered her mind. After all, what could really happen out here? It wouldn't take long to get to where Anna needed to be anyway, and then getting home would be nice and easy. And yet, she couldn't quite shake off the feeling of dread she had.

"C'mon, Anna. Get a grip already!" She thought to herself. "You're not in Pernington anymore. I thought we were going to stop being so afraid of being out at night..."

Suddenly, Anna turned around. She could have sworn she just heard something. Like... footsteps. And not those of a human. Anna shook her head and turned around again. She was clearly just imagining things.

"Ugh, jumping at shadows. So much for getting a grip. I should just get out of here as soon as I can..."

Anna then heard the footsteps again. She wasn't imagining things after all.

"Come on, it's probably just a fox. Plenty of those around here. And they'll just run off if I approach them. What's to worry about?"

It was at that point she shone her torch over to reveal something near a tree. It did indeed look like a fox, but it was just lying there, still. Anna knew it was a bad idea to look, but she nonetheless walked over to the fox and looked at it. It was dead. Not only that, but it looked like it had been ripped apart quite savagely.

"Jesus Christ... I don't think even foxes are that savage... Then, what the hell what I just hear?"

Something else caught Anna's attention. Another noise. This time, it sounded like growling. She turned around and saw something in the shadows. She couldn't make out what it was, but it looked like a dog. A fairly large one. But what really stood out was it's reflective yellow eyes. Anna looked at the creature, and it looked right back at her, still growling.

"Uh... Nice doggo." she said, her stomach tying in knots. "Good pupper... Um... You're a good boy, right? Right?"

The creature gave out a vicious sounding bark and started running towards Anna. Terrified, she immediately ran away with her stalker in pursuit. Thankfully she wasn't far from the streets, so she figured if she could get out there she could call for help, or maybe there would be people who could chase the beast away. It was just a matter of getting there. She had dropped her torch in her panic, but she had at least had some idea of where she was going.

"Fuck off! I'm not interested in being your dinner tonight!" Anna cried out as her pursuer continued it's chase. Suddenly, she felt an awful sensation in her stomach. Like she was about to throw up. She tried to fight it, but in the end, it was slowing her down. She couldn't take anymore. She had to stop. She bent over, gasping for breath and still not sure if she was going to vomit or not.

And then the creature pounced on her back, knocking her to the ground, and started tearing into her right shoulder with it's teeth. Anna tried to scream, but she just couldn't. Whether she was too out of breath or in too much pain, she could do nothing as the creature then started biting into her left side.

Suddenly, a car alarm started blaring out not too far away. This startled the creature, and it immediately ran away. The damage had already been done, however. Anna laid there for a few moments breathing heavily, her entire body in pain.

"I don't... want to... die here... I've got... I've got to... get... get help..."

Anna somehow managed to get back on her feet, but it was clear she was in no real condition to move. Nonetheless, she tried to stagger her way out of the forest. Clutching her bloodied side, she managed to stumble her way into the street, where she saw the Tesco Direct shop she had been making her way to in the first place. She dragged herself over there, naturally getting the attention of the people around her.

"You alright, love?" said an African looking man as she approached the shop.

"Uh... I... Uh..." she tried to speak as she went through the door. There were a few customers in there, as well as a lady packing some shelves right in front of her.

"S-somebody... Can somebody... I-I need help-"

With that, Anna's body gave up and she collapsed in a bloody heap on the floor. Everyone around her, including the African man from outside rushed to her side, panicking. The woman who was packing the shelf had a good look at her and her wounds.

"Someone call an ambulance!" she shouted as Anna blacked out.

And just like that, her world was turned upside down...